Operation Number Games: Money well spent?

A few weeks ago, we wrote that we look forward to a decision by the Colorado Supreme Court to decide the legality of the Operation Number Games cases in Weld County.

That was before we knew how much the case is costing Weld County taxpayers.

The Tribune reported last week at the bill to defend Weld District Attorney Ken Buck and Sheriff John Cooke is nearing $100,000. The costs will continue to rise as the appeals continue, Weld County Attorney Bruce Barker said.

Those costs don’t include staff time that has been spent in both the DA’s office and sheriff’s office to investigate and prosecute the dozens of Operation Number Games cases. The Weld DA’s office acknowledged last week that it has dismissed charges against 30 defendants that had still been working their way through the system.

If the Colorado Supreme Court rules in favor of Buck and Cooke, the DA’s office will refile those cases – and more.

We still believe it will be good for all involved to get a ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court on the legality of these cases. Operation Number Games has national implications, and lots of other attorneys are watching this case.

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But here’s our concern: One of the things we expect of our local DA and sheriff is to file cases that are winnable. That not only applies to identity theft cases, but also murders, rapes, drug, drunken driving and burglaries. We also expect our local law enforcement leaders not to file cases that might result in constitutional challenges that end up costing taxpayers thousands of dollars to defend.

We wonder: Was there a good risk-benefit analysis of the Operation Number Games cases before they were filed? Both Buck and Cooke operate in a highly litigious world. We’re on the outside looking in, but it sure seems to us Buck and Cooke should have known the search warrants in these cases would have been challenged – and that the cost to taxpayers might be substantial.

Cooke defended the expenditure of the money and said it was money well-spent.

“I don’t know what price tag you put on doing the right thing,” Cooke said. “We knew there were laws being violated, and we can’t just pick and choose and ignore it … I do think it was money well-spent. No one’s done it before. We were testing legal ground.”

There is a part of us that agrees with Cooke. We don’t condone identity theft – by legal citizens or illegal immigrants – and we applaud aggressive prosecution of crimes.

Up to a point.

We don’t applaud prosecution of crimes if it involves violating or fudging the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, which protects U.S. residents regardless of citizenship from unreasonable searches. We also don’t applaud prosecutions if it means taxpayers have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars defending a case.

So far, four different district court judges have ruled that the search of a local tax preparer’s office was illegal and a violation of the Bill of Rights. So far, the bill to taxpayers to defend those search warrants is $100,000 – and climbing.

And now, we are beginning to wonder if Operation Number Games is worth it.